Week 5, part three STEM camp and other things I've learnt from work...

View from the docks at the Navy Yard. Across the river is Anacostia, and visible is "Barry", a life size display ship.

Blurry photo, but this was made for me by my friends at work. It reads "This is called a Button". Americans/ Canadians refer to badges (what British people call badges) as "buttons", although they also refer to "British" buttons as buttons too. Although I would argue that what distinguishes a badge and button is that a button holds together material, a badge is pinned onto it, they say that a true "badge" is usually something official, like a police badge.

So this week was STEM (focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and "Math") camp at the museum. It was also "Sharkweek", a popular American television event in which the Discovery channel shows programmes solely related to sharks, shark attacks and what would happen in the event of a "shark apocalypse". Since I didn't watch much of Sharkweek (which has also featured in the wider world, e.g. I was in a cupcake shop which made reference to it in its advertising...) except for a Youtube clip (at my co-workers' collective insistence) I'll talk about the camp instead.

The Navy Museum's summer camps are split by gender, so the first week is STEM focused for the boys, the next week (this week) also includes STEM elements, but has more History in it, for the girls. Hence, we often refer to the STEM camp as "boys' camp" and Girls Make History camp as "girls' camp". This is not me saying girls cannot participate in STEM, it's just that girls aged 8-12 can get through more lesson material, generally, than boys aged 8-12, so we have more time to include some historical context for the girls' camp. The boys usually only did one sit-down lesson a day, and even that pushed the concentration capability of some. Most of the boys, like the girls in the next camp, come from the surrounding area (D.C, Virginia, Maryland, Prince George's County) and are either part of the public (state) school system or are home-schooled.

Most used phrases of last week;

"Stop".

"No, you cannot hit him with your car".

"Don't touch that". "No, seriously, don't touch that."

5 minutes later

"Oh, you got Superglue on your hands?"

Naturally, some of the boys were more interested in the activities than others. They were put in "battalion" groups and had their own flags and everything. We also had a point system to try and encourage good behaviour. However, when a group got into minus numbers, we would try and help them out, because that's just depressing to tally up.

One of the activities involved building cardboard rockets to be launched outside (after an accompanying lesson concerning mass and acceleration etc.). We couldn't launch the rockets in the grounds of the Navy Yard because apparently there are anti-ballistic systems on the roof of the main building which would literally explode if anything flew over them. You read correctly, the United States navy systems just can't handle cardboard rockets. Although we all agreed that this would be great to watch happen, I don't think that department of Defense/ Pentagon would be too impressed if a security alert was issued over a handful of children's science projects.

Therefore, we walked out of the yard (or rather, waited around with 30 hyperactive boys whilst security hesitated to let us, a group of interns, teachers and children, through a gate which led off-site...) and into a nearby park. What could possibly go wrong.

Well, within seconds of launching the first rocket we realised that they went higher than anticipated (nice job boys!) and as everyone looked skyward to watch the rocket return, it began to make a beeline for the huddle of kids. Naturally, they all turned and ran, besides one boy with glasses who literally watched the rocket hit him in the face. He wasn't hurt, I should add, for his glasses took the blow and the lens fell out. I think he was just slightly dazed. In a seperate incident, he also ran into a gun (a mounted cannon we have in the museum) during "recess", and was accidently hit in the face again, this time by a plastic snake (I kid you not). I really hope he didn't go home and tell his parents all of this...

After moving everyone to a safer distance, us interns could relax a bit and one of my friends showed me the Chinese character 坐 - zuò ("to sit"). This is cool because it looks like two people sitting on a bench. She's Chinese/ American, and insists that even native speakers have to study Chinese characters their whole life, as there are so many, and without regular use, they can be easily forgotten!

At the end of work, once "boys' camp" was finished, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. This is, according to the American interns, the epitome of America. There were games machines, stools instead of chairs, more tv screens than people (well, almost) showing every kind of American sport (American football, Baseball, Golf, even online Poker). There were also plently of "wings" (Chicken) served in cardboard boxes, battered, and coated in different sauces. The amount of grease involved was unreal, and led to me (to the amusement of everyone else in the restaurant) using a knife and fork. In addition, refills of drinks were brought to the table even if you had a full glass of something right next to it - until you physically told them to stop.

My experience so far of American cuisine has been pretty comprehensive. My friends at work even brought me Chicken & Waffle flavour "chips" (crisps). I wasn't massively keen on those.

A clip from a tv show which often ends up being discussed between us at work, as presenting a very interesting side to modern American family life; it's from a show called "Here comes Honey Boo-boo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzt7oCFN3ek